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Year in and year out, we watch law firm after law firm pay lip service to their commitment to diversity in the legal profession, with promises to put women attorneys on equal footing with their male counterparts, whether it be through hiring and retaining more women attorneys, promoting more women attorneys to equity partnership ranks, providing more leadership positions to women attorneys, or adopting more family-friendly policies to ensure that women attorneys are able to excel at their jobs while maintaining a stable work/life balance. Despite these continued assurances, and despite the fact that a number of firms have made great efforts to improve women’s stature in the law, there are only a few that offer women the chance to rise through the ranks to become major power players and to receive startlingly booming compensation.
Thanks to the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF), we have a way to find out exactly which firms are on top when it comes to offering women attorneys the chance to perform on par with their male colleagues in terms of prestige and pay.
WILEF offers Biglaw firms with 300 or more lawyers practicing in the United States the chance to become Gold Standard certified, meaning that they must comply with four of six benchmarks meant to drive women lawyers to succeed in business development and leadership roles. Here are the criteria (one of which is mandatory):
- 20% of equity partners or 33% of the attorneys becoming equity partners during the past twelve months are women (mandatory)
- 15% of the firm and US branch office heads are women
- 20% of the firm’s primary governance committee are women
- 20% of the firm’s compensation committee or its equivalent are women
- 15% of the top half of the firm’s equity partners in terms of compensation are women
- 10% of women equity partners are women of color, or 4% of women equity partners are LGBT
This year, 48 firms made the cut, compared to last year’s showing of 45 firms. Biglaw firms continue to tout their commitment to women’s initiatives, yet once again, not even half of the Am Law 100 appears on this list. Still more must be done when it comes to Biglaw firms raising the bar for their female attorneys.
Here are the 2020 recipients of Gold Standard certification:
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz
Ballard Spahr
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney
Cooley
Covington & Burling
Davis Wright Tremaine
Dorsey & Whitney
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
Foley & Lardner
Fredrikson & Byron
Frost Brown Todd
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Goodwin
Haynes and Boone
Hogan Lovells US
Holland & Hart
Hughes Hubbard & Reed
Ice Miller
Jackson Lewis
Jenner & Block
K&L Gates
Kutak Rock
Latham & Watkins
Littler
Manatt. Phelps & Phillips
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
Morrison & Foerster
Norton Rose Fulbright
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
O’Melveny & Myers
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Perkins Coie
Pillsbury
Polsinelli
Quarles & Brady
Reed Smith
Shook, Hardy & Bacon
Sidley Austin
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Stinson
Stoel Rives
Thompson Coburn
Vorys
Womble Bond Dickinson US
Although WILEF doesn’t tell us how the firms stack up against one another in terms of the criteria needed for certification, we do know that 23 firms met all six benchmarks. Those firms are: Ballard Spahr; Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney; Cooley; Covington & Burling; Foley & Lardner; Jenner & Block; Hughes Hubbard & Reed; K&L Gates; Kutak Rock; Littler; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; Morgan Lewis & Bockius; Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Pillsbury; Polsinelli; Reed Smith; Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Sidley Austin; Stinson; Stoel Rives; and Thompson Coburn.
It’s also worth noting that 12 firms have received Gold Standard certification every year since 2011, when WILEF first created this award. Those firms are: Ballard Spahr; Davis Wright Tremaine; Holland & Hart; Hughes Hubbard & Reed; Littler; Morrison & Foerster; Quarles & Brady; Reed Smith; Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Stinson; and Stoel Rives.
Last, but certainly not least, only one firm has received Gold Standard certification every year since 2011 while meeting each and every benchmark: Reed Smith.
Here are some interesting facts about how this year’s certified firms did overall:
- 6% of certified firms met the criterion of 20% women among US equity partners
- the average was 30% of women as US branch heads
- women constituted 30.9% of the members of the firms’ governance committees
- women constituted 32.6% of their compensation committees
- 16% of women were in the top half of equity partners, in terms of compensation
- 12.4% of certified firms met or exceeded the 10% threshold for women of color, and 3.8% met or exceeded the 4% threshold for LGBT women
Congratulations to all of the firms that met WILEF’s criteria for Gold Standard certification. You have our thanks for rising to the top of the Biglaw pack when it comes to women’s empowerment. We still have a way to go but these firms are making strides in the right direction. Thank you for helping women shine in legal practice.
WILEF Announces 2020 Gold Standard Certification Firms [WILEF Tribune]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.